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Naim Attallah
Naim Ibrahim Attallah CBE (Arabic: نعيم إبراهيم عطالله, 1 May 1931 – 2 February 2021) was a Palestinian-British businessman and writer. In the early 1970s, became involved with John Asprey, heir to the luxury goods group, and under his patronage became joint managing director and eventually group chief executive, expanding the company greatly.
Attallah acquired, independently, Quartet Books (1976), The Women’s Press (1977) and several magazines, including The Wire, The Oldie and the Literary Review, the last of which lost him, over time, an estimated £2.5m.
Attallah was born in Haifa, in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1931 to a Catholic family. At the age of 18 (n 1949) he was sent to the UK to complete an engineering degree at Battersea Polytechnic, London.This was cut short in 1951 when the Israeli government imposed financial restriction. Leaving university with no means of support he worked a range of jobs, some--steeplejack, bouncer, factory worker--low waged, but eventually moving for a short period into banking. He began working as a foreign exchange dealer in 1957, and a financial consultant in 1969. In 1967 Atallah incorporated Namara, an umbrella firm that he would use for his later acquisitions.
Attallah joined Asprey in the 1970s. In 1992, he became joint managing director of jewellers, Asprey. He became Chief Executive in 1992. Attallah left Asprey in 1995.
The Standard reporter, Penny Perrick wrote, "In his native Palestine Naim Attallah was an only son, sharing a house with his mother, three sisters, his grandmother and aunt, 'Which is perhaps why I feel so at home with them in my working life.'
From 1976 Naim Attallah was the publisher of Quartet Books (David Elliot was the editorial director) and from 1977 he was the joint owner of The Women's Press with Stephanie Dowrick.
Attallah also became a film producer, known for The Slipper and the Rose (1976), Brimstone and Treacle (1982), and Hier is... Adriaan van Dis (1983). Atallah, through his company Namara, also financed the stage adaptation of J. P. Donleavy's, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1981). In 1991 he acquired the Theatre PR company, Theo Cowan Ltd.[1]
The Palestinian-born entrepreneur was described by The Guardian in 2000 as a "legendary adorer of beautiful women" This 'adoration' led to his appointment of many women to important roles. Attallah appointed a young Sabrina Guinness to run a new book club, Anna Pasternak to a role at Quartet Books, and broadcaster and columnist Emma Soames, as editor of the Literary Review (followed later by Auberon Waugh. Other mentees included journalist and novelist Candida Crewe, writer and broadcaster Rebecca Fraser, food writer Nigella Lawson, columnist Sophia Sackville-West, and journalist and novelist Daisy Waugh.
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Naim Attallah
Naim Ibrahim Attallah CBE (Arabic: نعيم إبراهيم عطالله, 1 May 1931 – 2 February 2021) was a Palestinian-British businessman and writer. In the early 1970s, became involved with John Asprey, heir to the luxury goods group, and under his patronage became joint managing director and eventually group chief executive, expanding the company greatly.
Attallah acquired, independently, Quartet Books (1976), The Women’s Press (1977) and several magazines, including The Wire, The Oldie and the Literary Review, the last of which lost him, over time, an estimated £2.5m.
Attallah was born in Haifa, in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1931 to a Catholic family. At the age of 18 (n 1949) he was sent to the UK to complete an engineering degree at Battersea Polytechnic, London.This was cut short in 1951 when the Israeli government imposed financial restriction. Leaving university with no means of support he worked a range of jobs, some--steeplejack, bouncer, factory worker--low waged, but eventually moving for a short period into banking. He began working as a foreign exchange dealer in 1957, and a financial consultant in 1969. In 1967 Atallah incorporated Namara, an umbrella firm that he would use for his later acquisitions.
Attallah joined Asprey in the 1970s. In 1992, he became joint managing director of jewellers, Asprey. He became Chief Executive in 1992. Attallah left Asprey in 1995.
The Standard reporter, Penny Perrick wrote, "In his native Palestine Naim Attallah was an only son, sharing a house with his mother, three sisters, his grandmother and aunt, 'Which is perhaps why I feel so at home with them in my working life.'
From 1976 Naim Attallah was the publisher of Quartet Books (David Elliot was the editorial director) and from 1977 he was the joint owner of The Women's Press with Stephanie Dowrick.
Attallah also became a film producer, known for The Slipper and the Rose (1976), Brimstone and Treacle (1982), and Hier is... Adriaan van Dis (1983). Atallah, through his company Namara, also financed the stage adaptation of J. P. Donleavy's, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1981). In 1991 he acquired the Theatre PR company, Theo Cowan Ltd.[1]
The Palestinian-born entrepreneur was described by The Guardian in 2000 as a "legendary adorer of beautiful women" This 'adoration' led to his appointment of many women to important roles. Attallah appointed a young Sabrina Guinness to run a new book club, Anna Pasternak to a role at Quartet Books, and broadcaster and columnist Emma Soames, as editor of the Literary Review (followed later by Auberon Waugh. Other mentees included journalist and novelist Candida Crewe, writer and broadcaster Rebecca Fraser, food writer Nigella Lawson, columnist Sophia Sackville-West, and journalist and novelist Daisy Waugh.